Jason and Luke McEndoo Make Father-Son Trip to Super Bowl LIV Courtesy of Niner's OL Mike Person
STILLWATER -- Cowboys assistant coach Jason McEndoo got a chance to take the father-son trip of a lifetime last weekend. The current cowboy backs coach for Oklahoma State is a former offensive lineman in his playing days at Washington State and then spent three seasons in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints before getting his Master's degree and going into coaching. From 2003 til 2014, McEndoo coached the offensive line at Montana State and one of his top pupils was current San Francisco 49ers right guard Mike Person.
"Pretty good player by the way," McEndoo said of Person who has played in 73 NFL games for five different teams, but most of the last two seasons at right guard for the Niners. "Yeah, he's a hell of a guy."
McEndoo said they have stayed in touch and, at times, McEndoo has pep talked his former pupil as he knows how hard it can be trying to keep an NFL offensive line career going. It is physically brutal, mentally trying, and there are always new players ready to take your job away.
"At one point, he's been with three different teams during the season, he got cut, and those three teams went on to play in Super Bowl," McEndoo said of some of the frustration Person has dealt with.
"We talked, you know, couple times throughout the season, just motivational things and he was at the point where he just needed a positive word. I mean, he about hung it up two or three times, you know, like a lot of guys get frustrated. So we were talking during the middle the season, 'You're having a great season,' I said. 'Hey, man, you guys make it to the Super Bowl, don't forget old Coach Mac,' kind of joking about it."
So the night after the 49ers beat the Packers to win the NFC Championship and earn a place in Super Bowl LIV, Person text his old coach and said 'I have two tickets for you in Miami.'
McEndoo said he was blown away and after talking to his wife Ruth, she said that Jason just had to take their son Luke. Luke McEndoo has been mentioned on this site often. The 6-3, 235 pound fullback, tight end, and defensive end for the Stillwater Pioneers is one of the top prospects in Oklahoma for the 2021 recruiting class. He is a football junkie that loves the game and had to be blown away when his dad delivered the message.
"He just was super excited over the top and, yeah, we just just planned it out," Jason McEndoo said of the trip. First, McEndoo was on the road recruiting so he had to plan to get back and make the short trip with Luke. "Obviously it was last minute, so just kind of had to throw it together."
It was a 14-hour trip to Miami, actually Tampa because flights into Miami were all booked and it helped hotel-wise as well. McEndoo said all Miami-area hotels were taking three-day minimums for the Super Bowl with the least expensive being $400-500 a night.
The trip started with a flight out of Wichita, Kan. A bonus for the McEndoos was that 49ers assistant equipment director "Doc" Dressler is a former Oklahoma State equipment manager for football and women's basketball. He sent Jason McEndoo a box of 49ers gear, so they would look the part.
"Of course the entire airport (in Wichita) everybody's Chiefs fans," McEndoo explained. "We got it the whole time, like we were enemy territory."
Their itinerary took them to St.Louis, then changed flights to Washington D.C., followed by another change of flights that got them into Tampa around 8 p.m. Another former coach from Montana State is now coaching at South Florida, so they stayed with him, who took them on a tour for Luke to see South Florida's facilities and football program. Then they got up early and drive to Miami.
"It's a four hour drive," McEndoo said picking up the trip. "So we got down to Miami, got to the team hotel."
They saw Mike Person's dad and his family and walked around downtown Miami, which as you can imagine on Super Bowl Sunday, there's just a few things going on and some pretty interesting people.
"So that was super cool," McEndoo continued. "We went down there and then got tickets, hung around Miami for a while and then end up going to the stadium and, you know, I think now going through it, the Super Bowl is this event with a game attached to it. I mean just how big it is was just amazing, just kind of takes you back, honestly.
"Yeah, the whole hundred year team for the NFL and then introducing everybody, in fact, they were there in person," McEndoo continued. "We're on the lower level, we're kind of over in the corner but fifth row from the field. So unbelievable, and when I sat down right across from us was Richard Sherman's wife and family so we were sitting in the San Francisco team family section."
The game did not end well for the 49ers as the Kansas City Chiefs roared back in the fourth quarter with 21 points and a 31-20 win, but this was the trip of a lifetime and they stuck around to soak it all in, confetti and all.
"We stayed there and watched the entire celebration and the confetti coming down. We took in the whole experience," McEndoo said. "The crazy part was we had a 7:30 a.m. fight back out of Tampa. Now, Luke wasn't much help on that drive from Miami to Tampa. He kind of sacked out, and we were up for about 23 hours straight.
"It was awesome. I would definitely do it again, and if it is a bucket list for somebody out there," McEndoo finished. "Then you need to go do it."
Of course, it helps to have coached a player that is playing in a Super Bowl.
